The West Bengal Chief Minister, Ms Mamata Banerjee, on Monday made a strong pitch for attracting investments to the State. She, however, made it clear that rules would not be bent for the industry. Ms Banerjee was addressing industrialists at a business summit, Bengal Leads 2012, organised by the State Government.
“Crime is a crime. You can't compare crime with business. Law of the land has to be followed. Individual issues and business should not be mixed,” the Chief Minister said. Though Ms Banerjee did not directly mention the recent fire at AMRI Hospitals, the reference was obvious. “There may be lapses in the fire department but we are willing to see that you (private players) take preventive action on your own. We are ready to give you your chances,” she said.
Stock of Projects
Yet again asserting that land will not be a problem for investors, Ms Banerjee picked examples of Mr Sajjan Jindal, Chairman-cum- Managing Director of JSW Steel, and local businessman, Mr Sanjay Budhia, Managing Director, Patton Group, to harp on how the State Government had intervened to ensure that there were no problems with the company holding land in excess of the ceiling limit.
“We are a humane government and will not acquire land for industry. However, investors would not face any problems with land. The State Government would support them,” she said reiterating her stand on land acquisition.
The summit was attended by the ITC Chairman, Mr Y.C. Deveshwar, Chairman of Punj Lloyd Group, Mr Atul Punj, Vice-Chairman of DLF, Mr Rajeev Singh and Mr Sanjeev Goenka of RPG- among others.
Meanwhile, taking stock of on-going projects, Ms Banerjee said that Mr Goenka was working on augmenting power capacities through his power project at Haldia, while NRI businessman, Mr Prasoon Mukherjee, was developing an eco-tourism hub at Nayachar.